Census Records for Georgia
This entry was originally written by the Johni Cerny and Robert S. Davis for Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources.
Contents
Federal
Population Schedules
• Indexed'1820 (partial), 1830, 1840, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1890 (fragment), 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930
• Soundex'1880, 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930
Industry and Agriculture Schedules
• Industry'1820, 1880
• Agriculture'1850, 1860, 1870, 1880
Mortality Schedules
• 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880
Slave Schedules
• 1850, 1860
Unfortunately, the 1820 census is the earliest enumeration of Georgia's population to have survived, making it necessary to substitute other lists for the missing censuses. More than forty percent of Georgia's population (and likely seventy percent of the frontier migration families) lived in Wilkes County in 1790, making the numerous publications of that one county's extensive surviving records an especially valuable census substitute. The 1820 census of Georgia is also lost for Franklin, Rabun, and Twiggs counties; for many other counties, names were often omitted or unreadable. Land lottery, military, tax lists, and other records, discussed under other headings, are available as census substitutes and supplements for the 1820 and earlier censuses.
Both the Georgia Archives and the FHL have a complete set of Georgia census records and mortality schedules.
State
Georgia conducted state censuses for various years from 1787 to 1866. Only a relatively few of these returns survive, and they are only lists of heads of households with some minor statistical information. The returns prior to 1852 have been published in various sources. Later census returns, when they survive, are almost all on microfilm at the Georgia Archives. To see what has survived of Georgia state and federal census records, see Robert S. Davis, Research in Georgia (see Background Sources for Georgia), 27-41, 44, 147-68.
Georgia Census Records at Ancestry.com
In addition to the U.S. Federal Census Collection at Ancestry.com, there is a collection of Georgia census indexes that include the following: 1790 Tax Substitute Index; 1792-1819 Tax Lists Index; 1800 Oglethorpe County Territorial Census Index; 1820 Federal Census Index; 1830 Federal Census Index; 1838 State Census; 1840 Pensioners List; 1845 State Census Index; 1850 Federal Census Index; 1860 Federal Census Index; 1860 Slave Schedule; 1870 Federal Census Index; 1890 Veterans Schedule. You can search the collection at Georgia Census, 1790-1890.
Also at Ancestry.com are images of a book entitled The Reconstructed 1790 Census of Georgia that was compiled by Marie De Lamar and Elisabeth Rothstein that attempts "to place as many persons as possible in their county of residence in 1790."
And specifically for Worth County, Georgia in 1920 there is a Worth County, Georgia Census, 1920 database.
External Links
- Georgia Census Records - free up-to-date guide to accessing Georgia census records. Identifies federal, state, and territorial censuses, as well as substitute records (FamilySearch Research Wiki).
